Saving Lives: Ten Essential Actions Cities Can Take to Reduce Violence Now

Council on Criminal Justice | As 2022 begins, America’s cities confront an ongoing surge in violent crime, particularly homicide. The Council on Criminal Justice documented a 30% rise in murders nationwide in 2020, while police data from large cities reveal another 7% increase in 2021. Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Portland, and at least ten other municipalities experienced the most homicides in their cities’ history last year. This spike has been driven primarily by community gun violence, or violence involving firearms in community settings. It is claiming lives, tearing families and communities apart, filling prisons, and eroding support for policing and other criminal justice reforms. Policymakers and practitioners need to put polarized, “us versus them” politics aside and focus on solutions that strengthen both community and enforcement-based approaches.

In response to the crisis, the CCJ launched a Violent Crime Working Group in July 2021. Composed of a diverse range of leaders, the Group dedicated itself to saving lives by producing anti-violence guidance that is timely, relevant, and reliable. Since then, the Group has met 11 times, consulted with the field’s leading experts, produced three reports on national crime trends, held two live public web events, and issued seven bulletins highlighting its key findings and featuring concrete recommendations to improve policy and practice in this critical area.

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Students Need to Feel Safe

CT News Junkie | Since the Oxford High School shooting in Michigan, thousands of students in Connecticut have been terrorized by threats of violence in school, leading to lockdowns, school closures, and widespread student absences across the state, including in Ansonia, Danbury, Farmington, Greenwich, Hamden, Manchester, New Haven, Norwalk, and Norwich.

The fear and anxiety was made even worse by the school shooting threats that were rampant on Tik Tok last week. 

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$45 million in federal aid to be spent on violence prevention, crime victim services, Gov. Evers announces

Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday announced a $45 million allocation of federal pandemic aid for violence prevention and crime victim services that he anticipated would begin reaching communities across Wisconsin within weeks.  

“Much like the pandemic, this is another public health crisis that deserves our attention and our action. And much like any public health issue, it starts with prevention. Violence and its impact on kids, families and communities is not inevitable,” Evers said during a news conference at the COA Goldin Center, 2320 W. Burleigh St. in Milwaukee.

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